5/22/16

The Fireflies jumped out to an early 6-0 lead on Saturday and went on to defeat the Riverdogs, 8-4, at Joseph P. Riley Jr. Park. The top of Columbia’s batting order was electric. The first five hitters all tallied at least two hits – including J.C. Rodriguez’s 4-for-5 night at the plate. The switch-hitter also scored two runs, blasted two doubles and knocked in a pair of runs.

Starter Joe Shaw (W, 3-2) out-dueled his counterpart Yefrey Ramirez (L, 1-1). While the Charleston (26-15) righty lasted just 3.1 innings, Shaw turned in seven marvelous frames of work, striking out a career-high 10 batters. Shaw has punched out seven or more in four starts this year.

Columbia (21-21) scored two runs in the top of the first inning. Vinny Siena and Rodriguez cracked back-to-back hits and Siena then scored from third base on a wild pitch. Milton Ramos drove home Rodriguez with a single.

The lead doubled to 4-0 in the top of the third when Ivan Wilson slammed his fourth home run of the season over the left-field foul pole.

The Fireflies weren’t done in the fourth. After Kevin Kaczmarski and Siena both reached with base hits, Rodriguez drove in a run with a single as well. Ramos then plated another with a sacrifice fly.

The RiverDogs scratched runs across in the fourth and fifth frames, but the visitors answered back in the top of the sixth. A pair of RBI doubles from Rodriguez and Ramos extended the lead to 8-2.

Conner Spencer and Kendall Coleman knocked in runs in the bottom of the eighth but it wasn’t enough to muster a comeback. Johnny Magliozzi (S, 3) pitched a scoreless inning and a third in relief to close the game out.